howard



(No Model.)

A. HOWARD.

WATGHMANS TIME RECORDER.

Patented Jun 9, 1885.

WITNEEIEEEI- WWW 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

' A. HOWARD.

WATOHMANS TIME RECORDER.

No. 319,818. Patented June 9, 1885.

MTNEEEEE- N. PETERS FhMwLNhcgnphar. Washinmcn. D. C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEErcE.

ALBERT HOVARD, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIG-NOR TO THE E. HOXVARD \VATCH AND CLOCK COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

WATCHMANS TIME-RECORDER.

SPECEEECATIQN forming part of Letters Patent No. 319,818, dated June 9, 1885.

(No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALBERT HOWARD, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in WVatchmens Clocks, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to that class of watchmens clocks in which a dial rotated by a suitable time mechanism is perforated by a stylus, which is pressed against it by the closure of a circuit through an electro-magnet, the armature of which in being attracted to the poles of the magnet moves the stylus and causes it to make a perforation in the paper. A puslr button;or other Gircuit-GlOSi11g device is operated by the watchman at any desired point to close the circuit, and the rotation of the dial causes it to indicate the time of each closure of the circuit by the watchman.

l leretoforein this class of watchmens clocks the rotating dial has been positively connected to the time mechanism or clock that rotates it, so that the clock cannot operateindependently of the dial, but will stop when the movement of the dial is arrested. It has therefore been possible for a watchman to stop the clock by keepingthe circuit closed bya prolonged pressure on the circuit-closer, thus causing the stylus to hold the dialuntil the clock stops, the dial thereafter remaining inoperative, so that no further record of the acts of the watchman can be made until the clock is again. started.

My invention has for its object to prevent the stoppage of the clock in the manner above set forth, and to provide means whereby the I dial, when released after being held by a prolonged closure of the circuit, will be rapidly rotated to compensate for the time of its detention and enable it to catch up with the clock so that the location of the next perforation will indicate the time of making it.

To these ends my invention consists in the improvements which I will now proceed to describe and claim.

Of the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 represents a front elevation of an apparatus embodying my improvements. Fig. 2 represents a top view of the same. Fig. 3 represents a section 011 line 00 m, Fig. 2. Fig. 4: represents a rear view of the contrate-wheel shown in section in Fig. 3. Fig. 5 represents a modification. Fig. 6 represents a section on line y y, Fig. 3;

and Fig. 7 represents a section on line .2 z,

Fig. 5.

The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in all the figures.

In the drawings, (4 represents the card or dial on which the watchmausrecord is made. Said dial is detachably secured to a rotating holder composed of a spider, Z), and a back plate affixed to a contrate-wheel, c, which is rotated by a clock or time mechanism through an arbor, d, rotated by said clock, and having a pinion, c, meshing with the contrate-wheel. The spider is held by a removable nut, f, screwed upon the threaded hub of the contrate-wheel.

9 represents the marker or stylus, which is attached to the outer end of a pivoted armature-lever, h, and is caused tomark or perforate the paper by the attraction of the armature i to the ,polcs of the clcctro-magnet j j whenever the circuit is closed through said magnet.

1n carrying out my invention, instead of positively connecting the rotating dial or card holder and the clock so that neither can move independently, as heretofore, Iprovideayielding connection whereby the clock is enabled to continue its operation for a considerable period while the dial is arrested, and devices whereby, upon the release of the dial after it has been arrested and thus prevented from moving with the clock, it is rotated quickly to the point to which it would have been moved by the clock during the period of its arrest, thus restoring the dial to its proper relation to the clock.

The yielding connection between the dialholder and the clock is effected in the examples shown in the drawings by making the pinion e loose upon the arbor d and providing the arbor with a fixed collar, Z, having a projection or stop, or, against which a pin, a, se 5 cured to the pinion c, is held with a yielding pressure, as hereinafter described.

\Vhen the dial-holder is in position to be rotated by the arbor e, the rotation of said arbor by the clock causes the projection m to ICO revolve in the direction indicated by the arrow in Figs. 6 and 7, the pinion e rotating with the arbor and rotating the dial-holder.

When the dial or card is arrested by a prolonged contact of the stylus g with it, the contrate-wheel c and pinion e are also arrested; but the arbor d and its projection m, having no positive connection with the pinion 6, continue to rotate, the projection at being thus moved away from the pin a.

When the dial is released by the rotation of the stylus, the holder is rotated by the means employed to hold the pinion e in yielding contact with the projection on the clock-arbor d. Said means may be variously modified in the construction shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4. I have shown a weight, 1), suspended by a cord from a drum on the arbor 0", which supports the dialholder, said weight and cord rotating the arbor r and the dial-holder in the direction indicated by the dotted arrow in Fig. 2, and causing the contrate-wheel a to rotate the pinion e in the direction in which the arbor d rotates, the pin a of the pinion 6 being thus normally pressed against the projection m of the arbor and caused to rotate with the arbor excepting when the dial is arrested. After the release of the dial, assuming it to have been arrested, the weight causes the arbor r, the dial-holder, and the pinion c to rotate rapidly until. the pinion comes to a bearing on the projection m.

The arbor 0 has a ratchet, s, affixed to it, and the hub of the contrate-wheel has a pawl, t, engaging with said ratchet. Said hub is mounted loosely on the arbor, so that the arbor may be rotated independently to wind up the weight-cord, the pawl t slipping on the ratchet when the arbor is being thus rotated. The outer end of the arbor is squared to fit a winding-key.

A spring may be used instead of a weight to rotate the arbor r in the manner described.

In Fig. 5 I have shown a spiral spring, a, as a substitute for the arbor r and its impellingweight, said spring being connected at one end to a fixed collar, 1), on the arbor d and at its other end to the pinion c. \Vhen the dial is not arrested, the springu communicates motion from the arbor d to the pinion a, holding the latter in engagement with the projection m. \Vhen the dial is arrested the stoppage of the pinion e and the continued rotation of the arbor d compresses or increases the tension of the spring to, (its upper end turning with the arbor d,) so that when the dial is released the increased tension of the spring causes the lat ter to act as a motor and rotate the pinion c and the dial-holder until the pinion is arrested by the projection m on the arbor d.

It will be seen that by either of the described yielding or separable connections any attempt by the watchman to stop the clock in the manner above described is prevented, as the clock can only be stopped in this way by holding the circuit-closer until the projection at on the arbor d in its revolution reaches the rear side of the pin n, and this would requirea continuous closure of the circuit for several hours.

I claim-- l. In a watchmans clock, the combination of a rotary card or dial holder, an electricallyoperated stylus or marker, an arbor rotated by a time mechanism or clock, and a yielding connection,substantially as described, between the rotary holder and the arbor, whereby the arbor is permitted to operate independently of the card-holder and the cardholder is retated independently when released until it is restored to its normal relation with the arbor, as set forth.

2. In a watehmans clock, the combination of a rotary card or dial holder, an electricallyoperated stylus or marker, an arbor rotated by a continuouslyoperating time mechanism or clock, and a motor which impcls the dialholder at a rate governed by the arbor when the former is in its normal condition, and at a faster rate after a stoppage of the dial-holder until the dial-holder and arbor are restored to their proper relations, as set forth.

3. The combination of the dial or card holder composed of the contrate-wheel and clampingspider, the electrically-operated marker or stylus, the continuously impelled arbor (I, having a projection, m, the pinion meshing with the contrate-wheel and mounted loosely on said arbor and provided with a pin adapted to bear against said projection, and means, substantially as described, for holding said pin with a yielding pressure against said projection, as set forth.

4h The combination of the dial or card ho der composed of the contratc-wheel and clampingspider, the electricallyoperated marker or stylus, the continuously impelled arbor (1, having a projection, m, the pinion meshing with the contratewheel and mounted loosely on the arbor d an d provided with apin adapted to bear against the projection m, the arbor 1', adapted to rotate the dial-holder, and the weight, or its specified equivalent, whereby the arbor and card-holder are impelled, as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses, this 7th day of March,1885.

ALBERT HOW'ARD.

Witnesses:

O. F. BROWN, A. L. l/VHITE. 

